Germantown Blankets

In 1868, three-ply commercial yarns were being produced by woolen mills around Germantown, Pennsylvania, and shipped to the Navajo reservation for use in weavings. By 1870, a four-ply yarn became the mainstay, which produced a very consistent even weave and came in a variety of bright aniline colors. These colorful, tight, well-composed Navajo textiles became known collectively as Germantown blankets. The majority of these Germantown weavings were composed of four-ply commercial wool yarn, which often used a cotton warp as their foundation, though the Ganado trading post owner John Lorenzo Hubbell discouraged the practice of cotton warps as they did not wear as well as those with a wool warp.

Site Content copyright 1996-2017. Permission to reproduce photos and paintings in this online catalog secured by J. Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this online catalog may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written or email permission from J. Mark Sublette, Medicine Man Gallery, Inc.